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Kaktovik whaling crew gets first bowhead of season

Posted: Friday, September 07, 2001

BARROW (AP) -- A whaling crew in Kaktovik harvested the first bowhead of the fall season.

The 44-foot female was struck Monday by the Isaac Akootchook whaling crew. The harvest is earlier than usual, although the communities of Kaktovik and Nuiqsut traditionally set up camps over the Labor Day weekend, said Maggie Ahmaogak, chair of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission.

Kaktovik has a quota of three whales this year. Nuiqsut has four. Barrow whalers have two whales left over from their spring quota.